After Effects: Principles Of Animation Pt2

This tutorial was the second part to the 12 Principles Of Animation, which we started last week. The tutorial involved Arcs overlapping, secondary movement and follow through, which were more difficult concepts than the previous week. We started off creating a basic movement animation of a circle going from one side of the composition to the other; this was then duplicated. We did this so by the time we reached the end of the tutorial we would have a before and after of how the animation developed. Using the duplication of the circle, we placed it slightly below the straight path at both keys, so that the animation would therefore create an arc movement.

Next we wanted to create the illusion of the circle/ball swinging from left to right on a string or wire- like conkers. Therefore we needed to draw the string, this was done simply with the line tool, creating a white line above and below the ball. To create the basic “swinging” movement we animated the ball and the string position and rotation. At the beginning of the composition we had the shapes rotated at 35, so that it was on a diagonal tilt, then at the half way point, this was changed to -35 causing the animation to return back on itself, creating the illusion of weight and gravity. Again the rotation was changed to at the end it was 35 causing the ball to swing back and forth. This created the basic swinging movement, however it did not look realistic.

To make the animation seem more realistic, we needed to portray momentum and gravity, so that it looked more like a ball was singing. To do this, at different stages of the animation we adjusted the linear points of the “string” dragging them out to show more shape, so it looked like the line was swinging rather than just doing the basic movement. A motion blur affect was then added as a final touch to make it look even more realistic! As an end result we had our original and basic movement an rotation as well as our animated and realistic version.

I enjoyed this tutorial, I feel as though it seemed easier than the previous, even though it was technically supposed to be more difficult. Rather than just following the instructions that Jay, our tutor, provides, I really feel like I’m getting a better understanding of After Effects myself and can see where he is trying to take the animation and what he is trying to achieve. Below shows screenshots of myself creating the animation.